PlaNet Finance
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| Type | Non-governmental organization |
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PlaNet Finance is an international non-profit organization, founded in 1998 with the mission to alleviate poverty through the development of microfinance.
Over the past ten years, PlaNet Finance has developed into a group of organizations (PlaNet Finance Group) providing services including consulting and technical support, financing, investment, insurance and ratings. Active in most emerging countries, PlaNet Finance Group has more than 1,750 employees.
Goals
PlaNet Finance was founded in Paris, France on October 13, 1998 by Jacques Attali, its first and current President, and Arnaud Ventura, its first CEO. It provides access to financial services to the poorest populations, the financial intermediaries including banks, cooperatives, non-governmental organizations and microfinance institutions. The association has a network of affiliated offices in Europe and the United States, and has operations in developing countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. By 2008 PlaNet Finance had supported 1,500 microfinance institutions financing more than 9 million people.
The association supports microfinance efforts by federating financial intermediaries and providing them with operational services. PlaNet Finance also works with the private sector (banks and financial institutions), international agencies, and government to facilitate the creation of an efficient microfinance sector.
Activities
PlaNet Finance provides a set of different services via independent and specialized entities:
Supporting microentrepreneurs
Internationally, PlaNet Finance[1] develops programmes with a high social impact aimed towards poor populations excluded from financial services. These programmes associate education, health and environmental protection to microfinance in order to answer the needs of microentrepreneurs in the development of their projects. In France, PlaNet Finance France,[2] through its network of associations, PlaNet ADAM, located in the heart of deprived neighbourhoods, offers assistance programmes to those with limited employment opportunities so that they can turn their business ideas into reality.
Funding
PlaNIS responsAbility SAS[3] and MicroWorld.org[4] provide funding for microfinance institutions, while MicroCred[5] and mBank[6] focus on financing entrepreneurs. FinanCités[7] supports entrepreneurs in France’s deprived urban areas by taking equity in their businesses and by offering them personalised coaching.
Microinsurance
PlaNet Guarantee[8] combats the vulnerability of certain populations through tailored and affordable microinsurance programmes serving the needs of low-income groups. PlaNet Guarantee is building strong partnerships with various sector players (ranging from insurers, reinsurers, banks and microfinance institutions to development agencies). It also draws on the field experience and expertise of the PlaNet Finance network.
Rating
Planet Rating[9] is an international microfinance rating agency which gives all actors involved in the sector the information they need to strengthen microfinance’s reach and impact. Its social performance and finance reports make the microfinance sector more effective by enhancing its professionalism and transparency.
External links
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